PHILADELPHIA (PA) — Mike Harden of the Columbus Dispatch, a columnist with a long history of responding to those seeking help, won the 2007 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award for endeavors affecting not only people in his own community but other places where he saw a need.
Harden was recognized at a June 23 awards banquet at the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in Philadelphia. Pa. In presenting the award, NSNC President Mike Argento of the York (Pa.) Daily Record, said: “Mike is one of the great human beings and columnists on the planet.”
A Dispatch columnist since 1983, Harden has championed a back-to-school program providing backpacks and school supplies for children of needy families for the past 10 years. In 2006 he inspired readers to donate almost $20,000.
When the city of Columbus condemned a neighborhood health center in the poorest section of town, he became an advocate for those faced with the loss of health care.
His rebuke of the city’s decision to slash funds for burying the indigent led to a rescinding of restrictions on qualifying for charity cremation.
Harden’s column appealing for assistance to send CARE packages to men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan helped raised $27,000 in 2006.
Letters that accompanied his nomination testified to his role in taking up the cause of underdogs – even “underhorses.” When a therapy horse that worked with autistic children broke a leg, he appealed to readers not to let the mare be put down. They responded by kicking in $15,000 to pay for surgery to allow the horse to continue helping youngsters.
Besides using his public forum as a columnist to produce benefits for residents of his community, Harden gave up three weeks of vacation last year to cook in a church kitchen on the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast. For nine days in March and another nine days in June, he served up three hot meals a day to hurricane recovery volunteers.
Alan Miller, managing editor of the Dispatch, said in nominating Harden: “Like the award’s honored namesake, Harden has an enduring concern about those who are down on their luck and being ignored by the system.”
“We appreciate the society’s on-going recognition of columnists who exemplify the humanitarianism of Will Rogers,” said Steve Gragert, Will Rogers Museums director.
In accepting the award, Harden proposed that future NSNC conferences include a time set aside to discuss how columnists can better serve those people for whom newspapers have become a last resort. His idea was approved by the membership, and Argento announced that much of next year’s meeting in New Orleans will be devoted to allowing columnists to go out into the community to find stories and perhaps involve themselves in Katrina recovery projects. The meeting is scheduled for June 19-22, 2008 at the Monteleone Hotel.
The Will Rogers award, named for the humorist and newspaper columnist who performed many humanitarian acts, is presented annually to a columnist whose work produces tangible benefits for the community served by his or her newspaper. The program, which began in 2000, is sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists with support from the Will Rogers Memorial Commission of Oklahoma and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.
The award, a miniature of Rogers’ statue in the U.S. Capitol, also carries a $500 stipend. Nominations may be made by editors or community leaders.
NSNC has a tradition of inviting a descendant of Will Rogers to present the award. For many past conferences, his grandson, Kem Rogers was a special guest. This year, Kem’s son James Rogers had planned to make the presentation but flight problems prevented him from making the trip from California to Philadelphia.